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The Home Entertainment Show kicked off Friday with an optimistic briefing on the future of XM Satellite Radio by one of the company's executives.

"This year, XM is making the most aggressive push that we have ever made into the whole market," said Brian Shea, vice president of marketing at XM Satellite Radio Inc. The company boasts more than 3.8 million subscribers, but it hopes to boost that number to 5.5 million by year's end and 20 million by the end of the decade.

"We're looking to break into new segments and to be able to offer fundamental solutions that are easy for consumers to understand and easy for dealers to merchandise," Shea said.

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In addition to new XM-ready receivers announced by Polk Audio Inc. and Yamaha Corp., Shea said at least 13 manufacturers have already taken advantage of XM's one-chip solution for making their consumer electronic products capable of receiving XM programming.

Consumers can add XM service to any of these products by connecting a $50 XM "Connect and Play" antenna and signing up for XM service. Devices as varied as DVD players, clock radios and high-end receivers are capable of taking advantage of Connect and Play technology while still selling at the same price as comparable non-XM-ready products.

He also described plans to make XM service available to America Online Inc. subscribers and several new handheld XM products scheduled for release this year. The new handheld receivers all will retail for $299 and will feature time shifting as well as the ability to play through a conventional FM radio. (Listen to an extended excerpt from Shea's speech via podcast here.)

Bill Dyszel, the author of 18 books including Microsoft Outlook for Dummies and PalmPilot for Dummies, is also a regular contributor to national publications. He has written for PC Magazine since 1992.
Bill is also an accomplished entertainer. He sang with the New York City Opera for 14 years and appeared frequently on the New York stage as well many television programs. He has over 40 short films to his credit and he is the most prolific contributor to the 48-Hour Film Project, an international filmmaking...
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